Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

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rghvdberg
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Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by rghvdberg »

Hello all,

The Libre Music Challenge is an event that originated in the chat server run by producer/musician/youtuber Unfa.
Every 1st Sunday of the month a new challenge starts, and we try to make if fun and educational.
In this challenge we use only free audio software and some general rules apply (check viewtopic.php?f=24&t=21662)
Sometimes special rules apply as you can read further down this post.

For our next challenge you are asked to make a track, with your favorite free audio en music tools. You can even use a song you already have, or use someone elses song, if the license of that song permits it.
The challenge this month is to learn, use , discover any or all of the excellent B.Music plugins by @sjaehn.
At least one plugin must be used.
  • BChoppr : An audio stream chopping LV2 plugin
  • BSEQuencer :Multi channel MIDI step sequencer LV2 p
  • BHarvestr : Granular synthesizer LV2 plugin (experimental)
  • BJumblr: Pattern-controlled audio stream / sample re-sequencer LV2 plugin
  • BSchaffl: Pattern-controlled MIDI amp & time stretch (experimantal)
  • BShapr: Beat / envelope shaper LV2 plugin
  • BSlizr: Sequenced audio slicing effect LV2 plugin ("step sequencer effect").
Here are the rules for this month
  • The general rules still apply (check viewtopic.php?f=24&t=21662) with exception that the track can be any music with a compatible license.
  • You can use as many B.Music plugins as you see fit, with a minimum of one plugin.
  • Any and all processing is fine.
  • Submissions must be in on the 30th of August
You can submit tracks by posting links to your work in this thread. Make sure the audio is downloadable as all tracks will be posted on archive.org. (link will follow)

Good luck and if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Last edited by rghvdberg on Wed Sep 09, 2020 12:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.
sjaehn
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Re: Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by sjaehn »

Thanks @rghvdberg for this idea. I'm really curious about the results :-).

Some tips about the installation. The easiest way are packages. Friends of the AUR rolling release packages are always up to date (esp. thanks @milk). Other packages may also be fine or may stuck at older versions (including .deb). But you can download or git-clone the source and easily compile the plugins using "make" and "(sudo) make install" as described in the respective plugin README.md.

If you have any question about the usage, feel free to take a look to the demos and tutorial videos in my youtube channel. Or just ask here.

Good luck :-)
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SpotlightKid
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Re: Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by SpotlightKid »

Hmm, I don't fully understand this months rules. What is allowed as sound sources? Are we supposed to use an existing track and mangle it with any of the B. plugins? Or can we use any kind of samples or tone-generator as source material? What about the plugins, which output MIDI? Can we use any instrument plugin (including samplers) after those?
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Re: Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by milkii »

they/them ta / libreav.org / wiki.thingsandstuff.org/Audio and related pages / gh

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Re: Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by rghvdberg »

SpotlightKid wrote: Tue Aug 04, 2020 4:09 am Hmm, I don't fully understand this months rules. What is allowed as sound sources? Are we supposed to use an existing track and mangle it with any of the B. plugins? Or can we use any kind of samples or tone-generator as source material? What about the plugins, which output MIDI? Can we use any instrument plugin (including samplers) after those?
If the source is stems/tracks with a cc by-sa license or compatible license then that's allowed
Synths, samplers must be libre software.
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Re: Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by Loki Harfagr »

for the bschaffl PKGFILE there's a typo in the "url:" which refers back to the jumbler ;)
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Re: Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by SpotlightKid »

TBH, the PKGBUILDs are full of errors and sloppiness.

Here's a better one for B.Schaffl: https://gist.github.com/SpotlightKid/71 ... 2a1b15bd74
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Re: Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by enorrmann »

Heyyy hello everybody, I would like to make my first submission in this series.. I called my track B.Tance
here is the link to the audio file
should I upload the ardour session as well ?
cheers !

edit !
Software used:
Ardour 6
ZynAddSubFX / Helm / Surge
DrMrSampler
B.Jumblr / B.Sequencer
Calf filter
LSP sidechain gate
Last edited by enorrmann on Sun Sep 06, 2020 2:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by jdfight »

Here's my entry - I used BJumblr, BChoppr, and BShapr plugins throughout - This might be the strangest thing I have done in years... learned a lot on this challenge. thanks for hosting it!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VbFbc9 ... sp=sharing

I made rhythmic pulse on the bass and pad using B.Choppr and I used B.Jumblr and B.Shapr for some crazy doppler delay effects.

Software used:
Ardour
ZynAddSubFX
GeonKick
B. Plugins
Calf Plugins (reverb, delay, limiter)
lufs meter
Espeak
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Re: Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by obiwanke »

Here is mine, first try ever in producing music for the public, hem.... :?

called B.pollo ;-) https://www.benofam.de/obiwanke/music/WIP/B.pollo.mp3

DAW: Ardour
Synths: Helm, B.Harvestr, Geonkick, fluidsynth
Plugins: x42 EQ, a-compressor, calf 5 band EQ, a-parametric EQ, dragonfly early reverb, a-delay, b.Jumblr, B.Choppr, B.Sequencer

used B.Harvestr in the space "swoops" at the beginning, in the middle and at the end by changing frequency via automation.
B.Choppr is obvious, B.Sequencer to part of the drums.
Voice from freesound.org by jjwallace.
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Re: Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by SpotlightKid »

obiwanke, solid first effort, but I would definitely add a bassline, even if it's just simple whole note root notes. I think it would take the track to a new level.
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Re: Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by obiwanke »

You're right. Unfortunately, (1) B.Harvestr crashes my actual ardour file and I cannot open the project, (2) I am not at the computer for the next 10 days and so I decided (3) to give it a try without a bass line.
But thanks for your feedback.
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Re: Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by Erlend »

Here is mine. I call it "Improvisations on a groove".

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KVxywF ... pK0C0/view

It's the first thing I made in many years, and well, I don't know what to think of it myself :) I might have some ear fatigue at the moment though.
But I'm happy that I pulled through, did my best, created something and learned a lot in the process.
I tried an approach I have not tried before: after defining the groove using, among others, B.Jumblr, all other additions were recorded with my digital piano and MIDI keyboard.
The result maybe suffers somewhat from being a patchwork of different ideas and layers of improvisations.
If I had more time I would focus on one of the ideas, especially the one from 1:14 to 2:00 and build something more minimalist on top of that.
Hope you find something in this one that you like :D

The most prominent uses of B plugins are:
  • B.Shapr & B.Choppr in the intro
  • B.Choppr in the bassline
  • B.Jumblr on parts of the piano
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Re: Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by AnyThreeWords »

Here is my B.Excellent song submission. This is something that I created a long time ago in some paid software. I recently opened up some of my old files on someone's computer who is willing to have windows installed on their machine and found this piece. I liked some of the melodies but the sounds were all wrong so I exported the midi and stared from scratch in ardour on the sound design. I scraped the old percussion entirely and used Hydrogen to develop the new percussion track.

This is my setup

Operating System: Manjaro
Daw: Ardour
Percusion: Hydrogen

Ardour Plugins:

Instruments:
B Harvester
Helm
SetBfree
Sorcer
Surge
ZynFusion

EQ:
Calf 5 band EQ and Filter
EQ10Q

Effects:
B Shapr
B Choppr
B Slizr
Calf Vintage Delay
Dragonfly Reverb (plate and hall)
YK Chorus

Dynamics:
Calf: Compressor, sidechain compressor and deesser.
LSP Compressor and Limiter.

Song file:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/141a4v7 ... sp=sharing

Ardour File:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1euoAXC ... sp=sharing
Last edited by AnyThreeWords on Sun Aug 30, 2020 6:40 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Libre Music Challenge #3 : B.Excellent

Post by SpotlightKid »

Here's my submission for the challenge:

Spotlight Kid - Wanna B.?

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/spotlightkid/wanna-b
Download: FLAC | OGG

Software used:

DAW

* Ardour 6.2

Mastering

* Audacity (Fadeout and Loudness correction)
* Sound Converter (FLAC and OGG conversion)
* EasyTag (Tagging)

Plugins used (LV2, unless noted otherwise):

Synths:

* a-Fluid Synth (Drums Part 1/Part 2)
* OB-Xd (Bass Intro/Part 1/Part 2, Pluck Part1/Part 2, Pad Part 2, Brass Part 1/Part2)
* String Machine (Strings Part 1)
* TAL Noizemakr (Bells)
* OxeFM Synth (VST2) (Bass Part 2)
* ZynAddSubFX (Choir Aahhs)

Effects:

* a-Compressor stereo
* B.Choppr (Intro Bass Sweep, Choir Aahhs)
* C* PlateX2
* EQ4Q Stereo
* Faustfilters Diode Ladder LPF
* Hera Chorus
* MDA Delay (VST2)
+ Stone Phaser Stereo
* YK Chorus
* ZamDelay
* ZamMuliCompX2
* zita_rev1 (FAUST->LV2)
* ZynReverb

MIDI Tools:

* B.SEQuencer (Basslines, Plucks)
* B.Schaffl (Hi Hats)
* midiomatic MIDIPBToCC (for converting pitchbend messages from external controller into CC messages for plugin parameter automation)
* x42 Midi Transpose (for doubling bass in part 2)

Samples used:

* TR-808 Closed and Open Hihat, Clap (from hydrogen TR-808 drumkit)
* Shruthi-1 Drumkit (SF2 soundfont from own samples)
* Model-D SFX (own samples)

I will upload these samples to my web server later tonight. I will probably also upload the Ardour project to my Github or Gitlab account and add a link here.

Update: I decided to upload the samples and the Ardour project as archives to my web server. Get them here:

https://chrisarndt.de/music/homerecording/wanna-b/
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